Comic-Con 2010 Asian Cosplayers

Popular Asian cosplayers Linda Le, Jan Illenberger, and Alodia Gosiengfiao pose for the cameras at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con. Linda cosplays Juri Han from the video game Super Street Fighter IV. Jan cosplays Bayonetta from the video game Bayonetta. Alodia cosplays Amaha Masane from the anime series Witchblade. Photo by Erskine Manglicmot.

Popular Asian cosplayers Linda Le, Jan Illenberger, and Alodia Gosiengfiao pose for the cameras at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con. Linda cosplays Juri Han from the video game Super Street Fighter IV. Jan cosplays Bayonetta from the video game Bayonetta. Alodia cosplays Amaha Masane from the anime series Witchblade. Photo by Erskine Manglicmot.

Since 1970, the annual San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) has served as one of the world’s biggest conventions dedicated to geeky passions of all kinds: from comics, to animation, to movies, to toys. One of those geeky passions is cosplay, and that passion was extremely well-represented at this year’s Comic-Con. Hundreds of cosplayers from around the world trooped to the San Diego Convention Center to become their favorite characters for four days, representing every genre at Comic-Con.

One particular cosplayer, Filipina cosplay queen Alodia Gosiengfiao, came to Comic-Con this year with a mission: to host a cosplay gathering for Kotobukiya, publisher of the new photobook Otacool 2: Worldwide Cosplayers. Through the global crowdsourcing efforts of top otaku culture blogger Danny Choo, Otacool 2 brings together amazing cosplayers from around the world, including Alodia. How fitting, then, that Alodia’s cosplay gathering should unite four Asian cosplayers in America.

Cast of Characters

Popular Asian cosplayers Linda Le, Alodia Gosiengfiao, and Yaya Han pose for the cameras at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con. Linda cosplays Morrigan Aensland from the video game Darkstalkers. Alodia cosplays Miwako Sakurada from the anime series Paradise Kiss. Yaya cosplays Scarlet Witch from the comic book metaseries X-Men and Avengers. Photo by Erskine Manglicmot.

Popular Asian cosplayers Linda Le, Alodia Gosiengfiao, and Yaya Han pose for the cameras at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con. Linda cosplays Morrigan Aensland from the video game Darkstalkers. Alodia cosplays Miwako Sakurada from the anime series Paradise Kiss. Yaya cosplays Scarlet Witch from the comic book metaseries X-Men and Avengers. Photo by Erskine Manglicmot.

Joining Alodia at SDCC were three other popular Asian cosplayers. US-based Chinese cosplayer Yaya Han is a ten-year industry veteran who cosplays full-time for a living. Oklahoma-born Asian cosplayer Linda Le took the cosplay world by storm in 2009 with her stunningly sublime interpretations of popular anime and game characters. Both Yaya and Linda joined Alodia on the cover of Otacool 2. Rounding out the bunch was California-based Filipina cosplayer Jan Illenberger, a cosplay contemporary of Alodia’s who started cosplaying in 2003.

This was Alodia’s first trip to SDCC, and she certainly made quite a splash for a first-time attendee. Aside from signing autographs with Linda at the Kotobukiya booth, Alodia also won the Hall Costume Award for her portrayal of Amaha Masane from the anime series Witchblade.

Filipina cosplay queen Alodia Gosiengfiao wins the Hall Costume Award at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con for her portrayal of Amaha Masane from the anime series Witchblade. Photo by Alodia.

Filipina cosplay queen Alodia Gosiengfiao wins the Hall Costume Award at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con for her portrayal of Amaha Masane from the anime series Witchblade. Photo by Alodia.

Alodia shares the award with Jan, who wowed the crowd with her portrayal of Bayonetta from the video game Bayonetta. The Hall Costume Award at SDCC comes from the prestigious Costume Designers Guild. You need a movie credit for costume design to get into that group.

A Fan’s Hope

Alodia’s Witchblade cosplay even caught the eye of superstar YouTube vlogger Philip DeFranco. Here he is admiring Alodia’s costume in his SDCC video coverage.

DeFranco wasn’t the only filmmaker to witness Alodia’s cosplay at SDCC. The camera crew following Alodia in DeFranco’s video belongs to Oscar-nominated director Morgan Spurlock, famous for his groundbreaking documentary Super Size Me. Spurlock is directing a new documentary about SDCC entitled Comic-Con Episode Four: A Fan’s Hope, in theaters 2011. In case you’re not a fan of American science fiction movies, the Episode Four part of the title is an allusion to the first Star Wars film, which was actually the fourth episode in the sci-fi series.

Alodia is one of five fans featured in Spurlock’s SDCC documentary. He must have liked what he saw, because he recommended Alodia for the upcoming Warcraft movie. Alodia’s now in talks with Legendary Pictures for the film adaptation of the hit video game franchise. It’s amazing what can happen at Comic-Con.

Filipina cosplay queen Alodia Gosiengfiao visits Legendary Pictures after Comic-Con to talk about the upcoming Warcraft movie. Photo via Alodia.

Filipina cosplay queen Alodia Gosiengfiao visits Legendary Pictures after Comic-Con to talk about the upcoming Warcraft movie. Photo via Alodia.

Casting Alodia in the Warcraft movie would make perfect sense, since she’s an avid gamer who used to play the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft. She’s even cosplayed professionally for game publishers. By casting Alodia in the Warcraft movie, Legendary Pictures would do what Animax did when they recruited her as their anime VJ: hire a fan to engage fans. Alodia’s involvement in the Warcraft movie would fulfill the promise of SDCC as stated in the title of Spurlock’s documentary: a fan’s hope.

Filipino photographer Erskine Manglicmot captured these four gorgeous cosplayers in all their costumed glory during his photographic coverage of SDCC. Enjoy Erskine’s gallery of photos below.

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Comments

7 Comments (with 2 Conversations) on “Comic-Con 2010 Asian Cosplayers”
  1. Richie dela Merced says:

    ernskine Rullles…i have a new IDOL..=)

  2. Mike Abundo says:

    Check out this Comic-Con highlights video featuring Linda, Jan, and Alodia. Linda goes by the nickname “Vampy”, appropriate for one so enchanting. 🙂

  3. Mike Abundo says:

    Filipina cosplay queen Alodia Gosiengfiao visits the headquarters of Blizzard Entertainment, creators of the Warcraft video game franchise.

    Apparently, the developers of World of Warcraft like Alodia too. A few days after meeting with Legendary Pictures, Alodia visited the headquarters of Blizzard Entertainment, creators of the Warcraft video game franchise.

Reply to Richie dela Merced